'91 Honda Civic Mobil 1 0W-20 4121 miles

[nicrfe1370]

Since I bought my Honda Civic with the 1.5L last June I have done three oil analyses. The first on I already posted, and now I will post the second two.

1991 Honda Civic DX
1.5L SOHC FI
129575 miles at most recent sample
2.5 months on most recent sample
no makeup oil

code:

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10/10/03 12/29/03

Oil used Mobil 1 Mobil 1

Grade 10W-30 0W-20

miles on oil 4732 4121

miles on unit 125454 129575

filter Honda OEM Honda OEM



Iron 17 21

Chromium 1 0

Lead 18 14

Copper 24 8

Tin 0 0

Aluminum 4 4

Nickel 0 0

Silver 0 0

Silicon 10 9

Boron 116 174

Sodium 17 14

Magnesium 139 77

Calcium 2399 2740

Barium 0 0

Phosphorus 731 1072

Zinc 1087 1383

Moly 56 90

Titanium 0 0

Vanadium 0 0

Potassium 0 0

Visc. @100 10.65 8.78

Water 0 0

Glycol neg neg

Oxid. 17 18

Nitr. 10 11

TBN 7.05 8.54

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I'm not looking to run ultra-extended drains, nor am I trying to fnd the single best oil for my car. I'm having it analyzed for fun, and maybe to check for catastrophic problems.

 

[uconn1150]

Hmmm...are you going to try a thicker oil? Like a 0w-40...?!

 

[sbc350gearhead]

Was the 10w30 supersyn or trisyn?........just wondering about the magnesium. Was there any makeup oil added on either run?

 

[mikep]

quote:

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Originally posted by uconn1150:
Hmmm...are you going to try a thicker oil? Like a 0w-40...?!

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Why? Iron is slightly up (first time I've seen the high Fe scenario with M1 0w-20) but lead is slightly down, copper is way down and all the other values look great. This in almost the same amount of miles and with no consumption. TBN actually help up better on the 20w.and looks like vis held up better as well. Seems at the end of the interval you're practically running a 20w anyway. I wonder if the additional 600 miles were put on the 0w-20 if the VIS and TBN would have been appreciably lower?

Great report, thanks for sharing.

 

[Whimsey]

I think that is a another really good report for Mobil 1 0W-20. Especially since it's in a 1991 Honda

! Your iron went up a bit but that's most likely due to winter time. Your engine and driving style seems to be suited to this oil very well

. Of course the doom and gloom "thicker is better" crowd will chime in I'm sure

.

Whimsey

 

[nicrfe1370]

quote:

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Originally posted by Whimsey:
Of course the doom and gloom "thicker is better" crowd will chime in I'm sure

.

Whimsey

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I used to be a card carrying member of the "thicker is better" club. Only after trying various weight oils in my previous car (Subaru WRX) and analyzing them did I leave that club. Since this Honda is sort of "temporary" transportation, I was easily able to overcome my previous fears and try Mobil1 0W-20. The results are good, the car runs great, I'm going to stick with it.
Gearhead, good question, both are the supersyn formula. The oil that was in the car before these reports (unknown oil, came in the car when I bought it used) had 457 PPM magnesium! I'm confident the readings above are leftover from that.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Seeing how you have already tried 10W30 and 0W20 could I talk you into trying their new 5W40 or their new M1R OW30 not to be confused with their regular 0W30?

Seeing how you have already ran 5W20 it would be neat to see one of these other oils in your engine for comparision.

To date I do not think we have seen anyone run a 20Wt and a 40Wt oil in the same car! We also have not had anyone run the new 5W40 yet. I think we all know how the 0W40 will behave.

 

[nicrfe1370]

quote:

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Originally posted by JohnBrowning:
Seeing how you have already tried 10W30 and 0W20 could I talk you into trying their new 5W40 or their new M1R OW30 not to be confused with their regular 0W30?

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I've been looking for both in my neck of the woods, so far no luck. It's possible buster has bought up the entire supply in northwest Jersey.

Both of those oils would have been great to try in my WRX, I need to get another.

If I find them, I'll give them a try.

 

[TooSlick]

It looks like the 10w-30 was probably installed in July? and then drained in October. Your oil temps are going to be higher during warmer weather, so the oil will thin out more. The 0w-20 was used from Oct through Jan, when I would guess the NJ temps were much lower?, as were your equilibrium oil temps.

I still think that lead wear is too high in both these runs, so I'd go with the new Mobil 1, 5w-40 for six months out of the year and run their 5w-30 or 10w-30 from the beginning of Oct through the beginning of April....

That should knock the bearing wear down into the single digits for a 5000-6000 mile run and marginally reduce your iron wear by perhaps 10%.

TS

 

[Bror Jace]

I'm with TooSlick. I'm just not terribly impressed with either of these results.

nicfre1370, you drive the snot out of this thing? Lug it way too much? Lead and iron should be around the high single digits for these intervals ... max!

I had numbers better than this in a '95 Civic 1.5L with a confirmed coolant leak and 7,200+ miles on the oil ... and I drove the pi$$ out of it!

I'd suspect a coolant leak but potassium is zero.

With summer coming up, I'd try Pennzoil 10W30 High Mileage Vehicle and go no more than 4,000 miles (for starters) on it before draining. Hondas seem to respond to this stuff.

--- Bror Jace

 

[Cressida]

quote:

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Originally posted by TooSlick:
I still think that lead wear is too high in both these runs, so I'd go with the new Mobil 1, 5w-40....
TS

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I'm thinking same thing. I'd be trying any 5w-40 for a 4 or 5k mile run and would expect to see better numbers. You at least now have a good baseline to compare with.

 

[Schmoe]

Besides the iron count, which we ALL know that that is common for anything M1, everything else went down. I hate to say it, as I too am an old school believer that thicker is better, but this is surely a case to prove that thinner is better. Anytime you can get chromium, lead AND copper down, you just got to go with it. I'd put in a vote for year round candidate on this one. May switch my 02 V6 Accord to this stuff, currently using M1 5W-30.

[ February 11, 2004, 12:40 PM: Message edited by: Schmoe ]

 

[Bror Jace]

Schmoe, I don't think the drop is that clear.

18 to 14? Both are too high, IMHO, and these tests are not quite precise enough to say a drop definitely occurred.

I think it's time to try something else in this lil' beastie and significantly thicker may be the right direction. Either a 40 weight or a thick 30 weight ... like the Pennzoil High Mileage Vehicle 10W30 I recommended.

-- Bror Jace

 

[DavoNF]

I agree with BJ, the figures just go from very bad to just bad.

As part of the "thicker is better" crowd, I would like to see a similar interval on a 5W-40. You may be surprised.

Dave

 

[Schmoe]

OK, I see your point. It isn't "overall" good, regardless of type of oil. I guess part of my drawn conclusion is that Honda just simply like the thinner stuff.

 

[Schmoe]

But gentleman, we are clearly seeing a drop in lead going thick to thin. Now you think going to thick to thicker would benefit this situation? I am not seeing the logic here based on UOA's.